Ereaders Podcast

Information can be easily shared across the internet using podcasts. The podcast in this blog post is from an imaginary series called Tech Time. Its purpose is to keep librarians up to date with emerging technologies.

The technology used to create the podcast was Audacity software, with the audio file uploaded to SoundCloud.com and shared via Blogger. Audacity is open source software that is simple enough for children to use yet powerful enough to produce sophisticated audio files.

In this podcast I produced two tracks - a music track and a voice recording. I faded the music out then in again to overlay my voice introducing the Tech Time episode. I then cut the remainder of the music and generated silence on that track while I continued recording my voice on the second track. At the end I pasted and trimmed a suitable section of the remaining music to finish the podcast.
 

Music: 'Stroll in the Park' by Steve Glotzer

Cracking the Code

Thanks to an assignment for my digital technologies paper I'm starting to understand HTML and have proudly created my very first website from scratch.  It's nothing fancy - only two pages of text, two images and an embedded video - but I made it all by myself!

 

The topic of the website is school libraries and you can visit the website at Carolyn's Website For New Zealand School Librarians.

QR Codes in the Library

I only heard of QR codes for the first time this year and I haven't tried using them myself.  My only mobile device is a basic cellphone, so apps, touch screens, 3G internet access and QR codes are all in the realm of 'when I update my phone...' at present.  However I've read some blogs that have piqued my interest in QR codes, particularly in terms of adding value and interest to children's books.  For example, I love the way AllanahK has linked the animation of the Wonky Donkey to the book by adding a QR code to the book cover. Also this video clip explains how QR codes on books could be used to link to such extras as recommendations,  book reviews, podcasts, videos, websites etc.